Fnatic VCT EMEA Match Postponed Due to Multiple Sick Players
The upcoming Fnatic match was highly anticipated in the VALORANT Champions Tour EMEA 2023 but Riot Games has declared that it’s now being postponed.
Fnatic was set to take on KOI on April 20 (today) but Riot has announced that there will now only be one European match today: Giants versus FUT Esports at 11 AM CT. A revised time for the Fnatic match will be revealed soon, according to a Twitter update.
Why is the Fnatic Match Postponed?
The update from Riot Games has confirmed that Fnatic has had multiple positive COVID-19 cases. With multiple players feeling under the weather and unable to attend the LAN event, it made more sense to move the match around.
“A huge thank you to Riot for their understanding and cooperation on the matter. We’ll provide more updates as we have them, including our updated schedule. Today’s watch party in London is unfortunately also postponed,” Fnatic tweeted, adding that they look forward to returning to the Colosseum in full health.
Fnatic has not revealed which players have tested positive for COVID-19. But one player, Duelist Nikita “Derke” Sirmitev did make a tweet that all but confirmed that he and Leo Janesson are the COVID positive players.
In response to the news, commentator Mike “hypoc” Robins called Derke “patient zero,” claiming it’s always him who gets sick. Derke replied that he “doesn’t even go outside,” claiming it must have happened at a fan meet and greet.
“I’m becoming your COVID bodyguard going forward,” hypoc joked.
But Derke replied that hypoc got COVID from two VALORANT events recently. The two joked that “nothing could possibly go wrong” and some fans even noted that they could keep swapping COVID until they’re completely immune.
All jokes aside, Riot Games and the rest of the VALORANT community is hoping that the Fnatic squad get the rest they need and heal up.
“We wish the Fnatic players a speedy recovery and apologize to fans for the inconvenience caused by the change in schedule,” Riot tweeted.
Fans who had tickets for the match are still encouraged to attend the Giants versus FUT Esports match. Fans who opt out of attending will be given the option to get a refund in the next few days.
Fnatic is currently dominating the VCT EMEA. In the team’s first four matches, they defeated Giants, BBL Esports, Team Heretics, and Team Liquid, making them the only undefeated team in Europe. The team is expected to have an easy time taking down KOI, the team with the worst record in the league at 1-3.
